Hicks: Taylor Swift dating Harry Styles (again)

By Tony Hicks

Contra Costa Times

Posted:
12/03/2012 12:36:11 PM PST

Updated:
12/03/2012 01:38:07 PM PST

Taylor Swift has a new boyfriend. And, really, we couldn't be happier for her.

The next ex-boyfriend Swift will write songs about is Harry Styles of the boy band One Direction. After weeks of rumors, the two finally stepped out in public over the weekend, going to New York City's Central Park Zoo together.

And it seems they have a bit of a history already. The two reportedly had a brief fling last spring, and Swift's song "Trouble," according to some sources, is about Styles.

Swift and Styles' latest go-round was first rumored in mid-November, after Mario Lopez talked about the pair's backstage chemistry. The "X Factor" host said Styles visited Swift after doing a guest shot on the singing competition show, and that the pair had "walked off, hand in hand."

The press is extremely happy about the pairing. Well, at least some of them.

"They would be the next Justin and Britney," British journalist James Desborough, author of "One Direction ... What Makes Them Beautiful," told the Huffington Post last week. "We haven't had a proper A-list pop-star-royalty couple for a long time. These are two people in the peak of their careers, whom people are fascinated with."

Guess this guy never heard of John Mayer and Katy Perry.

By the way, what is it that makes One Direction beautiful?

Of course, Swift likes her younger men. Come to think of it, she likes older men too. In October, Swift dumped 18-year-old Conor Kennedy after three months of dating. She has also dated Jake Gyllenhaal, John Mayer, Taylor Lautner ... Marlon Brando, Hugh Hefner, Anthony Quinn, Richard Burton, and a young Charlie Chaplin. Or maybe it was just those first three.